Live Forever as a Machine
by Fae 206
Summary: 6 Years Later. Chi and Hideki are married and living a good life. Chi is working as a bakery assistant and Hideki graduated and works as a social worker. When Hideki is killed in an accident, their happy life seems to be over. One morning, Chi wakes up in a human body. Will she be able to figure this out? How about when a new persocom with Hideki's character and memories appears?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: **I think that the last time I posted this story, I was so wrapped up in what I wanted to do that I just rushed through what could have been four chapters in the space of one thousand words. Someone kindly suggested that I slow down the events of the story so thought that I'd like to rewrite it.

**Live Forever As a Machine**

**Chapter One**

So, this was supposed to be what happiness resulted in or at least it seemed happiness to her. Chi Motusawa had changed a lot in the six years since she had met with Hideki. Due to her – and of course Plum – keeping him motivated and helping him study for his entrance examination, Hideki had managed to get into university. He had then realized that he had no idea what he wanted to do and he didn't think that Chi would want to remain in the countryside.

He had eventually chosen to become a social worker who focused on helping orphaned and abandoned kids. Most of the classes that he had to take were about people's emotions and childhood development and those were much easier for him to tackle than knowing everything about a computer's system. What he had been relieved about was that Chitose was educating herself further to be able to continue on her husbands work.

That was where he was supposed to be right now and Chi looked to her wedding ring and smiled.

There had been so much that had happened since she had met Hideki, since he had found her and she had realized that he was the person just for her. They had dated for a while despite being a Chobit and a human and then he had proposed to her about a year after that and she had of course said yes.

There was a lot that they couldn't do, even things that they couldn't do which other persocoms could do with humans but Chi made sure Hideki had plenty of magazines and plenty of time by himself so that he could relieve himself. Even though she wanted to be with him in these ways, she was glad that they had found a way of him remaining faithful to her without her being in fear of rebooting.

Chi looked out the window of their apartment and then heard the keys in the door. She smiled before coming over and greeting the twenty-five-year-old, "Welcome home," she smiled to him and Hideki laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Did you manage to help her?"

"Yeah, well I'm hoping she doesn't do anything with that data," he coughed before wrapping her up in his arms. It didn't matter to him what people said or how his family had looked at him strangely for falling in love with someone who they didn't perceive of as real. He loved his wife. He loved his life. He never thought that he would actually become this lucky. "I've got an early morning session with a little girl," he said and Chi nodded before skipping into the kitchen.

"Here," she said as she picked up a plate with a cake on it, "Manager showed me how to do this," she grinned and Hideki laughed.

"That's amazing," he said as he kissed her on the top of her head, she smiled as she closed her eyes, enjoying the affectionate action from the man who had married her, her person just for her. Over the last six years, both of them had formed an even greater relationship with Hiroyasu Ueda who had promoted Chi to being a part of the kitchen help, he had taught her how to make and decorate cakes and whenever she learned something new she would always want to make something for Hideki.

He had chosen her. Out of all the people that he could have possibly chosen, he had picked her.

"It looks really delicious," Hideki said before grinning and laughing in his usual carefree manner. Chi threw her arms around him, delighting that she was able to make him smile once again. "You mind if I eat it now."

"You will eat dinner, right?" Chi asked as she tilted her head to the side and he nodded. Chi smiled. There was no greater joy to her than being with the person just for her, her soulmate even though he was a human.

…

…

There were so many new and modern versions of persocoms these days and though Hideki had made it a conscious effort to work with Chitose to keep Chi at the very top performance, he knew that it was getting harder to tell who were human who were persocoms. It didn't matter as much as it used to before he entered his relationship with Chi but he was surprised at the high tech that they had these days.

Chi looked around before pointing to a sign, "Look," she smiled and Hideki paused before laughing.

The flyer was of a festival that the city was participating in and Chiroru was listed as one of the businesses. Usually these were Chi's favorite times to work, it meant that everyone could have fun together and it reminded Hideki of the innocent world he wanted to keep her in. He felt guilty for that. She had already faced a different side of reality but he was protective of her. It might be one of his faults.

"Ah, a cultural festival," he smiled, "You love those," he said as he gently caressed her cheek. "I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun. I can't wait to hear all about it."

"You want to ask Manager Ueda about it?" Chi asked with a tilt of her head and Hideki looked to her before turning back to the flyer, he shook his head before making direct eye contact with Chi and smiled one of his goofy smiles.

"I'd rather hear about it from you. Now, I'm going to drop you off and then I really have to run. Working in the morning isn't so much fun but at least I'll be able to walk you home," he said as they arrived in front of the bakery. Chi nodded before kissing his cheek and then ran off with a wave. He smiled as he took a couple of steps back just watching her.

So what if love between a robot and a human was weird. It wasn't like Chi was some kind of machine or appliance. She was her own unique being and despite the fact that they couldn't have kids, he was happy that he got to see her and take care of her and grow along with her. She had even been able to teach him some things that he might never have known otherwise.

What mattered most was that he loved the woman he had married and he never wanted to do anything to be apart from her. Maybe it would end in heartbreak but it would be more painful to not be with her. He smiled as he walked away from the bakery and looked at his wedding ring. He had to do well at his job to impress her. He wanted her to be proud of him because he was extremely proud to be her husband.

…..

…..

As Chi managed to restock the cookies that they had baked that morning, she felt something sharp jab her inside her chest. She looked down. Her body seemed fine and her programming was still working. It must not have been a physical jab in that case. She frowned before shaking her head and started to neatly fold the napkins.

She closed her eyes before feeling as if some data transfer was happening inside of her. Was she receiving a message? Sometimes Hideki sent her messages if he felt that she wanted to hear about how special she was and how much he loved her but that didn't seem to be that kind of a message. She looked around as if she could see a scene in front of her despite being in Chiroru.

She could see Hideki's body on the ground and a taxi swerved to the side with the driver checking for a pulse. She could see people surrounding him but none of them were helping him. Chi saw a reporter there with a number on the camera bag.

"Chi-chan," Ueda said as he noticed her looking off into space, "Is something…"

"Manager," Chi said in a formal manner. "Can I take a break to use the TV?" she asked and Ueda opened his mouth a little before nodding, usually Chi didn't ask for things like this. For her to request the use of the TV wasn't normal so he felt that he had to. Chi kept her mind on the number and went to the TV before turning it on.

It was the same scene that she had seen in her head but from a different angle.

"We are now getting verification that the deceased is actually Motosuwa Hideki, a social service worker and counselor for one of the Japanese government programs. Motosuwa was the one who married his famous Chobit years ago. We have information that he was struck by the taxi whilst crossing the ro-"

Hideyuki stood behind Chi as his eyes widened and he looked at the TV. Hideki was dead? "Chi," he said as he reached out to her but Chi hummed, looking dazed for a moment before skipping out to the front to help with then next customer. Ueda watched after her, wanting to stop her.

Didn't she understand what the reporter had just announced? Did he have to tell her slowly and send her home, send her to a home where the person just for her didn't live any longer.

**End of Chapter One**

**Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: **Short chapter but I'm planning on including some flashbacks next chapter 😊

**Chapter Two**

Chitose turned to Hiroyasu with a weak smile. She looked over at Chi who had been pretending for the last hour that she didn't understand what was happening. Chitose knew that she was aware of it. She was aware what death meant but she was still a persocom, she could deny the information by just overwriting her programming.

As she saw her, Chi finished with her current transaction and dashed forwards with a smile. "Hibiya-san," she said with a bow and Chitose looked at her adopted daughter and pulled her into an embrace. Chi paused and then blinked at her, tilting her head to the side.

"You seem sad," she said and Chitose felt Chi's hand on her cheek where she had been crying. "Tears," she commented and Manager Ueda managed to guide them both to the back room.

"Yumi's absolutely devastated," Hiroyasu said as he looked to Chi. He didn't know if he should try to pressure her into understanding what had happened. Hideki was no longer with them. It was a painful thing to realize but one that _must _be realized. "I've been through loss before and I'm….I'm truly sorry for what happened, Chi-chan," he told her and Chi blinked.

"I thought we'd take a quiet walk home," Chitose said lovingly to the Chobit as she brushed her hair back with her fingers. Hideki had given so much to her. He had given her all of the love and support that he could and he had understood the risks of falling for a machine. He hadn't cared though. Chi was enough for him. Spending the life that they had together was enough for him.

"Hideki was going to…" Chi trailed off as she looked at the television and then shook her head. She tried to keep her chin up but Chitose could see the recognition in her eyes. She still loved Hideki more than anything. Despite them being separated by the idea of real and not-so-real, they had truly bonded and married each other and there had even been talk of a smaller persocom that they could bond with as a child.

"Chi-chan," Chitose said as she embraced her again, "Hideki is not going to come back. He _can't_ come back to us. Hideki was involved in an accident and sometimes you just…you don't recover from accidents."

"I know," Chi nodded and Chitose's eyes widened a little at how this girl was just admitting that she was living a fantasy where the person she loves would be waiting for her. "I want to pretend. I can pretend he's here with me."

Chitose nodded slowly before she grabbed Chi's coat despite her being resistant to slight weather changes. "I'll go and tell Ueda-san that we're leaving," she said and Chi nodded. Ueda was more than a little relieved to know that Chi wouldn't be working through so much pain.

…

…

Chitose could notice how Chi had become more quiet during their walk home. She held onto the girl's hand but there wasn't the strength that Chi had gained from being with Hideki. She seemed lost. Chitose wanted to do something for her, make sure she could have a slight happiness no matter how slight. Chi's most important part of her life was being with Hideki but it was just something that was impossible to have happen.

"Let's go to the bookstore, okay?" she asked and Chi nodded, staring at the road in front of her. Even though Chitose loved her like a daughter, it didn't compare to the love that Hideki had for her.

"Okay," Chi nodded. The two continued on the familiar route until a tent caught their attention. Chi looked around. She hadn't expected that but sometimes there would be booths and people talking about upcoming events. Usually they handed out little packages of tissues. There wasn't usually a tent like this pop up outside of the bookshop.

"What's that?" Chi asked as she tilted her head to examine it.

Chitose hummed. "It looks like a fortune tellers tent," she said in surprise. Chi turned to her wishing for an explanation. "They can look into the future and tell you what happens." Chitose took a better look at the group, "Ah, palm reading, tarot cards, contacting the deceased." Chitose felt a tear slide down her own cheek. She didn't want to believe that it was real. She didn't want to get tricked and have them tell her things about her husband that weren't true. She missed him. She could imagine Chi feeling the pain she had felt back then.

"Contacting…Hideki?" Chi asked and Chitose turned to her.

"They say that they can do it, but they only say that. I don't know whether they can actually do it or not," she said and Chi looked at the tent longingly. She wanted to have Hideki tell her that everything would be okay. She could continue if she heard his voice. Chitose sighed before buying a ticket for Chi, she slipped it into the Chobits hand. "Tell Hideki, thank you from me, okay?" she asked and Chi nodded, holding onto the ticket as if it were just as important as her wedding ring. She could get in contact with Hideki.

Once it was her turn, Chitose nodded with encouragement and Chi entered the tent to see someone with their hair wrapped up, a long flowing dress, and a number of necklaces. Chi knelt opposite her and passed over her ticket.

"So, interesting, you're very interesting," the fortune teller said as she studied Chi. "The perfect one between human and persocom. I imagine you want to talk to your husband?" she asked and Chi paused before nodding.

"I'd like to talk to Hideki, please?" she asked as her own pain filled her eyes because of the report that she had heard. She wanted his loving embrace. She wanted to hear the words of praise and adoration that he often said to her. She wanted _him_.

"Drink this," the fortune teller said as she pulled out a small tea cup and then a purple liquid from a bottle. She handed it to Chi who looked at it. Would this hurt her programming? She couldn't really drink liquid like this and she wasn't sure if this woman understood her position. "Take faith in the cup," she said. "You'll be able to feel your husband after you do."

Chi stared at it again but her desire to see Hideki weighed out against her own programming.

As she took the drink, she felt a weird vibration through her before she started sparkling. This didn't feel right. She had felt this sparkle before but not in this way. Without Hideki next to her, this sensation scared her. Hideki wasn't there to help her. Suddenly there were sparks coming off of her and Chi began to feel nothing. Her mind was shutting down and she collapsed onto the ground, her body still sparkling.

"Chi-chan!" Chitose said as she rushed into the tent but then froze. She could see that Chi was on the ground but she almost looked. She looked human. "Chi-chan?" Chitose asked before she felt flesh and bone instead of her robotic construction. She could feel the beat of Chi's heartbeat. She could hear and see her breathing. Something very different had happened. "Are you…"

"Is Hideki here?" Chi asked in a more natural version of her own adorable voice and Chitose pulled her onto her lap.

"No," she said quietly as she imagined the fear that Chi might have once she discovered what had happened. "No. He's not but he'd want to be here, to see this."

**End of Chapter Two**

**Thank you for reading**

**Thank you to **ThanosofTitan **for their review on Chapter One**


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